NO. 184: A BOOK REVIEW

No. 184

“Of making many books there is no end”—Ecc. 12:12. It seems that the Wise Man had become vexed and wearied with so much reading matter, because he then concludes, “Much reading is a weariness of the flesh.... God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Here is a terse warning that every book – especially on Biblical subjects – would be subjected to a critical eye by those in agreement and by those of contrary views. And if this were true three thousand years ago, how much more would it be so today. Thus, those of us who resort to the printing press should logically – and agreeably – expect close anal­ysis of the things written.

On this premise we now review the latest book by the Jehovah’s Witnesses – “Then Is Finished The Mystery Of God,” copyrighted in 1969, first edition two million copies. Writers are motivated by various standards – some from pride or pelf, some from real altruism, duty, and a “love of the truth.” We shall not attempt to catalog the Wit­nesses in their writing of many books; we shall record their methods, then allow our readers to form their own conclusions. If we are properly informed by the Witnesses themselves, Headquarters simply sends them a number of copies of each new issue, tell­ing them the price, and “PLEASE REMIT.” Considering that their “dedicated” help at headquarters is substantially slave labor (board, room and slight expense allowance), no union interference, and all participants very willing cooperators, we may readily conclude that the cost of such productions as the one we now consider would be a small percentage of a like production that must comply with the competitive rules of the fi­nancial world. The system of the Witnesses thus approaches the ideal: A quick sale without any cost of advertising, with pressure placed upon the “faithful” in the field to dispose of their supply with no undue delay.

In 1917 this same organization – then the International Bible Students Assn –produced The Finished Mystery, an attempted interpretation of the books of Revelation and Ezekiel. This present “Mystery” deals only with Revelation; and is often in sharp disagreement with the book they published in 1917. Many of those former state­ments are now reversed, or completely set aside. When the 1917 volume appeared, it caused a great revolt among the members, with headquarters insisting that it be accep­ted with blank credulity; critical questions were anathema. Many who disagreed there­upon severed their association with the organization, were disfellowshiped, and casti­gated with such names as “That Evil Servant” class, second-deathers, causers of divi­sions among the faithful, etc. But it was only a matter of a very few years that Headquarters itself recognized many of the blatant blunders of The Finished Mystery, and not only no longer insisted upon its acceptance, but actually threatened disfellow­ship of those who would dare to read it. Its printing was discontinued.. But no sense of shame was manifested over the unchristian treatment that had been meted out to their erstwhile brethren who dared question it in 1917. Indeed, Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn!

Coming now to this 1969 “Mystery,” it seems to us to have as many – or more –errors, ridiculous charges, false interpretations, etc., as did the one in 1917. And it is to some of these that we now direct our attention: On page 67 there is quite some elaboration on Rev. 6:11 – “White robes were given to every one of them.” Their interpretation states this took place in 1918, when the sleeping saints were raised. They say, “It would hardly be fitting for those slaughtered souls to receive these white robes while still remaining under the altar.... How could long flowing robes be kept white down there?” The shallow thinking here will become readily appar­ent when we consider Rev. 19:8; “The fine linen is the righteousness of saints” ­the righteousness that every one of them earned through perfecting himself in a Christ like character. Their condition “under the altar” was exactly the same as was the con­dition of Jesus, when He exclaimed, “Into Thy hands do I commend my spirit.” When our Lord was in the death state, after His crucifixion, His righteousness did not die; it was simply deposited into the hands of the Father until His resurrection. And the same with the sleeping saints – the mere fact that Jesus was dead only parts of three days would not alter in any way the condition of those who may have been dead – under exactly the same conditions – for a number of years. And let us not forget here that the Witnesses’ so-called “Founder” – Brother Russell – showed very clearly from the parallel dispensations that the first sleeping saints were raised in 1878, and not in 1918, as now claimed by the organization.

ERRORS ON THE CHRONOLOGY

On page 94 the book says “the creation of man almost six thousand years ago.” Here again they have cast away the clear calculations of their founder, who gave log­ical proof from the Scriptures that the six thousand years of Adam’s creation had ex­pired in 1872. We take a step forward in the book here to page 137, where it is stated, “When the manna was put into the Ark of the Covenant by Moses to King Solomon’s dedica­tion of the completed temple was 485 years.” How they could arrive at this erroneous conclusion we do not know, as it is clearly disputed by clear Bible statements. In Acts 13:20 St. Paul says that God “gave them (the children of Israel) judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the Prophet.” It is recorded that the Jews wandered in the Wilderness of Sin, after leaving Egypt, for forty years; then it took them six years to divide the land by lot after they crossed Jordan into Canaan, making then 496 years. Saul, the first King after Samuel, reigned as King for forty years, as did also David who followed Saul on “the throne of the Lord in Israel.” Then came Solomon, who “began to build the House of the Lord” in the fourth year of his reign. Adding all these figures, we have exactly 580 years from Sinai to the time Solomon began to build the Temple.

In 1 Kgs. 6:1 it is stated “it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt” Solomon began to build the Temple. The discrepancy of 100 years in these two statements is well explained in the footnote of the Diaglott:

“A difficulty occurs here which has very much puzzled Bibli­cal chronologists. The date given here is at variance with the statement in 1 Kings 6:1. There have been many solutions offered, but only one which seems entirely satisfactory, i.e., that the text in 1 Kings 6:1 has been corrupted, by substituting the Hebrew character daleth (4) for hay (5), which is very similar in form. This would make 580 years (instead of 480) from the exode to the building of the Temple, and exactly agree with Paul’s chronology.”

This is the explanation that was approved and accepted by Pastor Russell; and for a few years after his death the Witnesses themselves approved of his conclusion, and vigorously defended it against the attempts of some other errorists to set his chronology aside (although the errorists attempted only a 19-year change in his figures –against approximately 100 years which the Witnesses now try to inject into them). But, even if we accept their present figure of 1 Kgs. 6:1, they are still six years off, because 1 Kings 6:38 tells us, “In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof... So he was seven years in building it” – or ten years and eight months after he began his reign, mak­ing at least 491 years from Sinai – if we accept the faulty statement of 1 Kings 6:1 as correct. However, let us note that they say “almost” or “about” when stating dates now, so it would seem they are not at all certain of their own figures. And this should not surprise us when we consider the confusion of many of their statements.

THAT SERVANT

When the Witnesses produced The Finished Mystery in 1917, they were emphatic that Pastor Russell was “that servant” of Matt. 24:45-47; and they falsely insisted that the book was his posthumous work. Indeed, they did include copious quotations from his writings, which statements contained the Truth; and it was the “seventh vial” of Rev. 16:17, although the errors the writers intermingled with the truths of Pastor Russell gave that “vial” a vile appearance in many parts of it. But attacks made upon so many of their errors were so incisive that they were shortly forced to reverse themselves, sub­sequently claiming that “that servant” was a class of people, and not an individual ­the ‘class’ being themselves, of course. And in the book now under discussion they follow the same line with the “seven angels” of the seven churches described in Reve­lation chapters two and three. These “seven angels” they now also describe as a class, again including themselves in that class.

There are a number of reasons why their twist in both instances is fundamentally wrong, because the Scripture itself—Matt. 24:45-47, and its companion text Luke 12: 42-46, clearly refutes their claim. “That Servant” is clearly distinguished from the church in general because he is spoken of as being made “ruler over His (the Lord’s) household; hence he cannot be the household – or we are faced with the ridiculous statement that he is made ruler over himself – an unsound statement on its very face. Also, he is said to “give them (the Church) meat in due season,” a statement which clearly sets him apart from the general Church. And, when he is called the “steward” here is clear proof that all the household cannot be meant, for a steward is the spec­ial representative of the householder, having in charge the owner’s goods during his employment, as well as the supervision of all the other servants in that particular house. In our Lord’s day individuals, not classes, were stewards. Moreover, he is expressly distinguished in Luke 12:45 from all the other servants, in that he is for­bidden “to beat the menservants and maidens,” i.e., all the other servants of the Church. Would there be any sense whatever in warning the steward not to beat himself? Hence, the expression “That Servant” cannot mean the servants of the Church as a class, because in this passage he is clearly distinguished from them. Therefore, in view of the fact that these two Scriptures distinguish him from the Church as a whole and from all the other servants of the Truth, we should conclude that he must be an individual.

Furthermore, the facts of the harvest history (all of which is now seemingly de­nied by the Witnesses in their juggled chronology) prove that an individual, Brother Russell, is meant by that expression. For the Harvest, understood as the reaping and gleaning period, is past – that is, for those of us who still retain the true chronol­ogy and apply the parallel dispensations. During that Harvest time not a class, i.e., neither the Church, nor all servants of the Truth however we may classify them, had the entire storehouse in their charge, nor gave the meat in due season, nor ruled the Harvest work; but “That Servant” alone did these things. Hence he alone fulfilled the prophecy. Those of us conversant with the situation know he was “monarch of all he surveyed – his right there was none to dispute.” He appointed and dismissed pilgrims at his will; he determined what should go into the Watch Tower; supervised the vol­unteer work and indirectly the colporteurs; decided who should be employed at Bethel, and what particular position each one there should occupy. We are told that he him­self realized the absolute position he occupied; did not want any of his survivors to have the great power that was his; thus arranged in his will that the work in general, and the writing of the Watch Tower in particular, should be done by a group of brethren – rather than by any one of them. He was thus the antitypical Eleazar of the Gospel Age Harvest, having complete charge of the antitypical Tabernacle – in exact duplication of the plenipotentiary powers conferred by the Lord upon the Twelve Apostles, excepting only he did not speak by inspiration, nor was he infallible.

And because of the very nature of the work to be done, could it reasonably have been otherwise? How could the entire Church have had the entire Storehouse in its charge? Or have given itself the meat in due season? Or have ruled the work? That would have been a duplication of some brethren during the Philadelphia period who decided that each one of their number “spoke as he was moved by the Holy Spirit,” to determine what was right and what was wrong, which often resulted in about as many dif­ferent opinions on any one subject as there were members in the congregation, with the result being a spiritual bedlam. Thus we recognize the absurdity in the claim that “That Servant” was just another name for the entire Church. In fact, we inquire, Why should the Lord offer such a confusion in the use of an uncalled-for name? Why did He not offer the simple statement that the Church would do the things specified – if that was His intention?

And the results confirm this. It was Brother Russell who saw most of the advanc­ing Truth during his stay with us. And what others did see, they first had to submit it to him for approval and for presentation to the general Church. Certainly all familiar with the facts know this to be the truth. And this being the truth, it log­ically follows that “That Servant” had to be an individual. It is stated of him that he was “faithful and wise.” While it is properly stated that the general Church is blessed with “the wisdom from above,” it is also properly stated that many of them did very unwise and downright foolish things. Not only so, but many of them eventually proved to be unfaithful – either as crown-losers, or as second-death sifters during the Parousia. This also is common knowledge.

But, having concluded That Servant to be a class, they are logically forced to further error: They must determine that all “the angels to the seven churches” must also be the entire Church. It would be quite illogical to single out one individual during the entire Gospel Age for any particular time, then say that all the others were a group – the general Church. Note now Rev. 1:20, Dia.: “The seven stars are messen­gers (angels) of the seven congregations, and the seven Lampstands are seven congrega­tions.” Here is a very clear and indisputable line of demarcation between the “angels” and the congregations themselves. No, That Servant cannot be defined as the general Church, if we apply “the spirit of a sound mind.”

Further, if we consider the “angel” to the Church at Ephesus, we find that the twelve Apostles (angels, messengers, ones sent forth) were decidedly superior to the general Church: “If the sins of any one you may forgive, they are forgiven them; if those of any you may retain, they have been retained.” (John 20:13, Dia.) There is certainly no difficulty here in separating the “angel to the Church at Ephesus” from the Church itself.

FORCED INTERPRETATIONS

As may logically be expected from such minds as now control the Witnesses, all their thinking will manifest a similar bent; so they now attempt to place literal interpretation upon parts of The Revelation. When The Finished Mystery was first published in 1917, it placed great stress upon the first verse of Revelation: “Jesus Christ .... sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John.” ‘Signified’ means the Lord told it by signs – sign-i-fied it. One of the keys to a proper under­standing of The Revelation is that practically all the nouns – except the proper names such as God, Jesus Christ, John, etc. – are symbolic (they mean something different than the surface would indicate), while all the numerals are literal.

On page 146 – and pages following of the book under discussion – the attempt is made to give a literal meaning to “that woman Jezebel,” although Brother Russell properly applied the meaning to the apostate church of Rome, and her illicit union with the empires of earth. He came to this proper conclusion from the type in first and second Kings, where she, as Queen in Israel, was joined with King Ahab in a God-forbidden union with the kingdoms of this world, a thing the Church had been specially warned not to do.

SECTARIANISM

From pages 107 and onward much stress is placed by the Witnesses on their resolve not to be recognized as a “sect”; and one of the methods they have chosen to avoid this is to give themselves a name. True, a different name than any other sect in Chris­tendom, but a name just the same. On July 26, 1931 at Columbus, Ohio, they chose “to be identified and distinguished from Christendom” by adopting the name Jehovah’s Witnes­ses. It seems they reason that just a name in itself is sufficient to eradicate the evil of sectarianism from the character of those who accept it. But, as we have said on previous occasion concerning the Lord’s people, it is not the building that sancti­fies them; rather, it is they who sanctify the building in which they gather. And the same with sectarianism: It is not the name that frees any one from this evil; it is rather the person who must free himself from it. During Pastor Russell’s lifetime his movement became designated ‘Russellites’; but that in itself did not make a sectarian of any one who associated with him. The advice he gave operated to free his adherents from this evil. Repeatedly he insisted, Don’t accept anything just because I say it; PROVE IT FOR YOURSELF! In this he was but following the course of St. Peter (1 Peter 3:15): “Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.” To this end he always counseled his followers not to distribute anything he wrote without first reading it themselves, and convincing them­selves that it was the truth.

Consider now the Witnesses: We have met quite a few of their former supporters who were disfellowshiped by them simply because they insisted upon asking questions on statements in their Watch Tower that seemed to carry a view contrary to the one printed there. That surely is sectarianism in the extreme degree; it is just the opposite of St. Paul’s counsel: “Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good.” To para­phrase the statement of another uninspired writer: Sectarianism is a great sin; for it does not act from devotion to the Truth (as advised by Peter, Paul and Pastor Russell) but from devotion to partisanship. The Truth, its arrangements and its spirit are by it neglected or antagonized whenever this is in the interests of the sect. Their actual, though perhaps not verbal motto is: My party, my religious organization – I stand for it, right or wrong. Thus, such people support their sect and their leaders regardless of how wrong they are. And the Witnesses, being the little twin of the Roman Church in Little Babylon, have been excellent mimics of their ‘Big Brother’ in heaping anathema upon any who dare question their teachings. Over the centuries the shibboleth of the Roman Church has been: Reading (literature other than ours) is doubt; doubt is here­sy; and heresy is Hell!

Such a spirit finds no company with St. Paul’s words: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Gal. 5:1) The opposite of this is SECTARIANISM, which not only depraves him who succumbs to It, but it also encourages power-grasping leaders to wax worse and worse. This is in keeping with St. Paul’s prediction: “In the last days perilous times shall come (we are now in those days).... evil men, and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” (2 Tim. 3:1, 13) And the very people who have fanned the sectarian spirit to fever pitch over the past fifty years now have the colossal gall to offer this statement on page 112 of their book:

“The tendency toward the formation of a sect (back In 1917) among his faithful fol­lowers was displeasing to the one ‘who holds the seven stars in his right hand.’ Under his guidance this tendency toward the founding of a religious sect like the sects of Christendom out of which they had come was fought against by those who hate unchristian sectarianism. Those who chose to follow a dead man (Pastor Russell) left the ranks. Those who believed that the light of Bible Truth did not stop advancing with the death of the first president of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society held to God’s visible organization and continued searching the Holy Scriptures in the advancing light.”

In former years it was taught, and inculcated in their members, to be faithful to their sect in Big Babylon – whether Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, etc. Today the gen­eral advice and teaching of Big Babylon is to “join the church of your choice” whatever that may be. But the Jehovah’s Witnesses are more adamant than any of these sects in Big Babylon in their pronounced teaching that they must be faithful to their organiza­tion – God’s channel for the Truth. It doesn’t matter who runs the organization, it is God’s ‘earthly’ visible channel.

The “advancing light” which came from those who seized control of the Society after Brother Russell’s death set aside almost all of the advancing light he had brought forth from the storehouse during his lifetime; and we have here an exact duplicate of the action of the Roman Church after the death of the Apostles, who proceeded to counterfeit, or set aside completely, every important teaching that the Apostles gave when they were yet alive. Clearly enough, Brother Russell and the leaders of the Society since 1917 cannot both be right; one or the other must be a colossal fraud – just as either the Apostles or the Roman Church must be a colossal fraud. And St. Paul warns that as pun­ishment for such fraud “God will send to them an energy of delusion” (2 Thes. 2:11, Dia.) – such as Millions Now Living Will Never Die, the Kingdom to be established by 1925, etc. It is a sound appraisal that he who successfully fools others must first fool himself. It is decidedly an unjust twist by the writers of this Mystery of God book when they declare that those back in 1917 who opposed the management then were at­tempting to “follow a dead man.” While the dissenters had great respect for that “dead man,” it was the Harvest and general truths given by the Lord through him that they were adamant in retaining and defending. To these present writers we would offer the Scrip­ture, “What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly.”

In this connection, let us recall that J. F. Rutherford in 1918 placed great stress upon Eph. 4:13, insisting that it was at that date that “all attained the unity of the Faith” – the “all” in this text being his dedicated sectarian supporters, of course. But “the unity of the faith” that the Witnesses attained in 1918 has now been so changed that it is no longer recognizable; so they must now self-evidently be in jumbled dis unity of the faith. In fact, within ten years after 1918 the Vice-president of the So­ciety, C. A. Wise, said from the platform during one of their Conventions that he no longer knew himself anymore – that what he believed last year he didn’t believe this year, and probably wouldn’t be believing next year what he did that year. Thus, the Witnes­ses’ “unity of the faith” has been clear as mud for the past fifty years!

THE DAILY HEAVENLY MANNA

On pages 145, 146 is offered some detailed comment about the Manna book, saying it “was published by a Christian woman.” If that be true, all of us know full well that the comments themselves are by Brother Russell; and the citation is given in the perti­nent Watch Tower for every day’s item. Then why bring a woman into the discussion? The lame excuse is presented that the woman wanted to bring the book up to date in 1926, which “offer was refused in the light of 1 Tim. 2:12.” We know not the details surrounding that decision, but we observe that it furnished another excuse to the lead­ers to replace the Manna with a book of their own – The Year Book – with “Daily Texts and Comments” – to be published every year. Truly, “Of making many books there is no end!”

However, the hypocrisy of this move is also clearly revealed when we consider that just a few years after Pastor Russell’s death the various Ecclesias were advised to form “Sunday Schools,” in which the children of the members could be instructed by women teachers. It seems they had then temporarily forgotten 1 Tim. 2:12. But many of the members had not forgotten it; and the reaction was a positive NO by many of the sisters, causing some to leave the organization completely. In this also the objectors were following a “dead man” – in fact, “dead men” when we include the Apostle Paul – be­cause Pastor Russell himself was quite definitely opposed to such performance. Here’s what he said about it in Vol. 6, pp. 544-46:

“If it be considered in the light of a children’s social club, which draws them together once a week and directs their minds out of the ordinary work-day channels and in a general social and religious direction, it might be esteemed that the Sunday School has accomplished considerable in the world – especially for the lower classes of society. As for the effect of Sunday Schools upon the children of believers, we regard it as in­jurious.”

Then he offers some considerable detail for his reasons in thus stating, to which we refer our readers at their leisure. However, in this matter also the leaders in 1917 were determined not to follow a “dead man,” regardless of how sound and Scriptural his conclusions may have been.

FALSE PERSECUTIONS?

On page 119, and pages following, there is recited the experiences of many of the Witnesses in durance vile for their supposed adherence to Christian principles. Among these is listed the seven leaders of the organization, who were prosecuted by the United States Government for obstructing the conduct of the War in 1918 because of cer­tain statements made in The Finished Mystery; and they relate this:

“All seven having been sentenced on June 21, 1918, on false charges of political sedition, and obstruction of the American Military draft.... were denied the right to bail and were finally committed to the Federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia.”

Just for the record, and the information of our readers, we offer now a quotation from that 1917 book:

“The three fundamental truths of history are man’s Fall, Redemp­tion, and Restoration. Stated in other language, these three truths are the mortal nature of man, the Christ of God and His Millennial Kingdom. Standing opposite to these Satan has placed three great untruths, human immortality, the Antichrist and a certain delusion which is best described by the word Patriotism, but which is in reality murder, the spirit of the very Devil. It is this last and crowning feature of Satan’s work that is mentioned first. The other two errors are the direct cause of this one. The wars of the Old Testament were all intended to illus­trate the battlings of the new creature against the weaknesses of the flesh, and are not in any sense of the word justification for the human butchery which has turned the earth into a slaughter house. Nowhere in the New Testament is Patriotism (a narrow-minded hatred of other peoples) encouraged. Everywhere and always murder in its every form is forbidden; and yet, under the guise of Patriotism the civil governments of earth demand of peace-loving men the sacrifice of themselves and their loved ones and the butchery of their fellows, and hail it as a duty demanded by the laws of heaven.”

There are some four or five pages more of the same, but we believe the above will be sufficient for our readers to determine for themselves whether these statements would indeed “obstruct the conduct of the war and the American Military draft.” And our readers may also determine for themselves whether such statements on the part of “peace-loving” Christians would come from “the spirit of a sound mind” when all ele­ments of Society in the United States were aroused to a consuming frenzy over prose­cution of the war.

THE “GREAT CROWD”

On page 194, and following, there is given some considerable detail concerning the ‘great multitude’ of Rev. 7:9-17. Brother Russell went into some great elabora­tion in defining and describing this class: they are the “many” who are called, but not “chosen.” He presented many Scriptures, and explained numerous types concerning this class, whom he said would eventually have a spiritual birth – a part of “the church of the firstborn, which are written in Heaven.” A summary of such Scriptures is to be found on page 315 of the 1907 Watch Tower; and much was written and spoken concerning this class during the final years of Brother Russell’s life – by himself and by many other brethren. So far as we know, all the present leaders of the Witnesses, includ­ing J. F. Rutherford (now deceased), who were in the Movement prior to 1916, were in wholehearted agreement with the interpretation given at that time.

But, Behold! Here is just one more piece of what was “advancing Truth” ­“unity of the faith” - prior to 1918 that became disdainful error when J. F. Ruther­ford “discovered” early in 1935 that this class was not spiritual at all; it would be an earthly, flesh-and-blood class - one time styled Jonadabs, but now the “great crowd” of this Revelation Scripture. It was this same J. F. Rutherford who also “discovered” almost all the other errors that replaced the accepted truths of the Har­vest period prior to 1916; so any unbiased mind is now forced to admit that either Brother Russell or J. F. Rutherford must repose in the history books as a rank error­ist; in fact, a gross fraud. And notice that it took almost twenty years to “discov­er” this very important truth here in the end of the Age. But with It all, it would be very interesting to learn what the Witnesses now do with those Scriptures listed in the 1907 Tower, and how they explain the “unprofitable servant” of Matt. 25:30. It will be noted that it is written of this servant that “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then compare the statement concerning this ‘great crowd’ in Rev. 7:17: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

Some of us recall that it was Brother Russell’s prediction that the majority of those in his organization toward the end of his life would be of this ‘weeping’ class; so we ponder the question, Can it be that the present leaders have concluded that the best way to free themselves from membership in this class is simply to deny in toto that there is such a class? In “due time” the truth on this matter will prevail – especially after Armageddon. For some years now the leaders have been telling this ‘great crowd’ that they will go right through Armageddon and live forever, if faithful to that organization. But so many of their number have already died that it has shaken the faith of quite a few others; and we offer the prediction now that when Armageddon fails completely to confirm present predictions, the great majority of those remaining will indeed experience “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Perhaps we shall have more to say about this book in a future paper, but for now we would offer the counsel of St. Paul (2 Tim. 3:14,15--Dia.): “But do thou continue in the things which thou didst learn, and wast convinced of (from 1874 to 1916), know­ing by whom thou hast been instructed.... those holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise for salvation, through that faith which is in Jesus Christ.”

Sincerely your brother,

John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim

----------------------------------------------------------------------

ANNOUNCEMENT OF GENERAL INTEREST

In harmony with the arrangements the Epiphany Messenger made for the Epiphany, we suggest Sunday, October 18 through Sunday, November 15, for our Fall Special Effort in antitypical Gideon’s Second Battle in the “good fight” against the two King Errors, ­Eternal Torment and Consciousness of the Dead, antitypical Zebah and Zalmunna. Please see Epiphany Vol. 5, pp. 236-245. Our tracts Where Are The Dead? What Is The Soul? and The Resurrection of The Dead are especially adapted for this service. Also the books, The Divine Plan of the Ages and Life-Death-Hereafter may be used for this work. All who wish to join with us in this service, please order the pertinent literature in time. Our tracts are free, postage paid.

As we seek to “bear witness” to these timely Truths, we honor the Lord, as we also honor those whom He honors (1 Sam. 2:30), His faithful Mouthpieces who faith­fully pursued antitypical Zebah and Zalmunna all during their ministry; therefore, we invite all of like mind to join with us in this Special Effort – and also to join with us in the prayer, God bless their memory! (1 Tim. 5:17)